anja thaller know, since the old will was usually annulled or revoked when fundamental changes were necessary, so as not to call into question the validity of the new will.67 Surviving documents show that the contents of the later will usually does not contradict the first will,68 but rather concerns different areas or bequests not covered. Rarely does a later testament refer directly to the previous one, such as Isabella of Aragón’s second will, in which she states that “our old will shall remain valid in all its parts”.69 After the testatrix’s death some kind of inventory or list, it may be assumed, was made of the property left behind.70 Again, notarial documents provide further information about the following procedure for opening a will: After the threads were cut and the seal that closed the document was broken, it was read out aloud to the heirs and executors.71 Later annotations, found only in a few rare surviving wills, are likely to indicate executed testamentary dispositions or particular passages of interest to heirs, executors, or the institution or person with whom the will was deposited.72 More often than not, the process of execution has led to separate documentation.73 In the event of a dispute over a will, caused by conflicting interests, different legal backgrounds, or other mothe Palatinate’s first and second will of 1458 and 1468 are lost; only one of the two exemplars of her third will of 1481 has survived (no. 31). See Fischer 1994, p. 112. 67 A separate document revoking Matilda of the Palatinate’s second will of 1468 (wideruffbrief) was deposited in the same chest as that revoked will. SeeHStAStuttgart, A602, no. 144, and above n. 66. 68 An exception is the bequest to Königsfelden Abbey in the 1362 will of Agnes of Hungary (no. 16), which was not mentioned in her first will of 1351 (no. 14), the latter apparently not having been revoked or annulled. 69 No. 10: […] daz unser alter gescheftbrief stet belib an allen stuchen, die darinn geschriben sind. 70 For inventories see Antenhofer 2021. 71 Instructions for the opening of the closed will are found in nos. 19 (see above n. 26) and 25, as well as in an autograph dorsal note of the testatrix in no. 34. 72 E.g. ink dots, strokes, or crosses in the margin of the parchment (nos. 6, 18, 19, 39), maniculae (no. 31), textual references to the content (no. 36), literal notes on the (non)implementation of provisions (e.g. noninno.36; f forfecit? in nos. 37, 39), or the crossing out of paragraphs. 73 E.g. declarations about the execution, receipts of legacies, or separate lists of provisions for funeral ceremonies and bequests, such as inHStAStuttgart, A602, no. 158 (c. 1482, to will no. 31). 69
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